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If you want to experience Flagship First for yourself, here’s everything you’ll need to know.

In This Post

Aircraft

While you can fly “first class” on many American Airlines planes, most of these are simple domestic first class. There are only two aircraft in AA’s fleet that have a true first class product — dubbed “Flagship First” by the airline: Airbus A321T and Boeing 777-300ER.

The A321T is a special configuration of American Airlines’ Airbus A321-200 aircraft designated for coast-to-coast flights. These aircraft are configured with 10 first class seats arranged in five rows of 1-1 seating. That’s a surprisingly-large first class cabin considering this premium-heavy arrangement of the A321 has just 102 seats in the aircraft.

Image by JT Genter / TPG.

Comparatively, the 777-300ER first class cabin is small. There’s just 8 first class seats in two rows of 1-2-1 seating on an aircraft that holds more than 300 passengers.

Routes

Note that this aircraft also operates between New York-JFK and Boston, but this is a re-positioning route that doesn’t offer Flagship First service.

While the A321T routes are fixed, the 777-300ER is a bit more flexible, being moved around to different routes seasonally based on demand. Based on American Airlines’ schedule filed through the end of April 2019, the aircraft is operating on the following routes:

At the exit of Flagship First Check-In, you’ll be escorted to the front of the security line — which hopefully will be TSA PreCheck. After clearing security, it’s time for the lounge experience. If you’re originating or connecting in four airports — New York-JFK, Miami, Chicago or Los Angeles — you’ll get to use the Flagship Lounge.

Image of the New York-JFK Flagship Lounge courtesy of American Airlines.

One of the biggest benefits of flying true Flagship First class is the sit-down, restaurant-style Flagship First Dining experience. Unfortunately, it’s only found in three of the six US airports that have Flagship First: New York-JFK, Miami and Los Angeles. American Airlines plans to open the Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) Flagship Lounge location in Q2 2019, which will include Flagship First Dining. However, there are no plans to add Flagship First Dining — or even a Flagship Lounge — to Boston or San Francisco.

AA Flagship Dining at JFK. Image by Brian Kelly / TPG.

The experience doesn’t have to end once you’ve arrived at your destination. If you don’t have to clear immigration upon landing — whether flying domestically or having gone through pre-clearance before an international flight — you have the option of going to Flagship First Dining upon arrival. For those arriving in London-Heathrow on Flagship First, you can head to the American Airlines Arrivals Lounge for a bite to eat from the buffet or a la carte menu. You also have the ability to grab a shower or even get your clothes pressed.

One of 30 shower suite at the American Airlines Arrivals Lounge in London Heathrow. Image by JT Genter / TPG

On-Board Experience

In addition to more spacious seats than in business class, one of the primary benefits of Flagship First is the level of service and food/beverage that you’re supposed to get. In a 2017 review of the 777-300ER product, The Points Guy himself wasn’t very impressed. However, American Airlines taken steps to improve its on-board experience since that review.

In Flagship First, you’ll get the full suite of new Casper amenities — including pajamas, slippers, mattress pads, pillows and blankets.

Image of APL transcontinental business and first class kits courtesy of American Airlines.

The international Flagship First kits are by This Is Ground:

Booking With Miles

Searching award availability

First, let’s make one thing clear: American Airlines first class award availability can sometimes be very hard to find. There are times where I can’t find a single nonstop first class award seat on a Flagship First route for months. At other times, I’ve found at least one seat available most days in a month on a transcontinental route. Also, the more prestigious the route, date and flight time is, the harder it’s going to be to find award availability — as AA obviously would rather sell these seats at high cash rates.

The easiest way of searching for American Airlines first class awards is right on AA’s website. Since AA can be frustrating about showing mixed-cabin awards, I recommend searching the true first class segment (i.e. MIA to GRU) and choosing the “nonstop only” filter to see which dates are available in first class.

If you’re connecting to a first class flight, you’ll then want to search first class awards from your origin on the date(s) you’re hoping to fly in order to see if there’s award availability on the connecting leg(s). Make sure to check the cabin of the connecting flight(s), as some options may actually book into economy and/or a subpar first class product.

American Airlines AAdvantage

The most obvious way of booking American Airlines first class is to use AAdvantage miles. The cost for these awards is going to depend on what route you fly. Here are the prices for first class MileSAAver awards on the current routes that AA operates Flagship First:

Domestic transcontinental (JFK/BOS-LAX/SFO): 50,000 miles each way

US to Europe (DFW/JFK/LAX/MIA-LHR): 85,000 miles each way

US to South America Region 2 (DFW/JFK/MIA-GRU/EZE): 85,000 miles each way

US to Asia Region 2 (DFW/LAX-HKG): 110,000 miles each way

If you’re short on AAdvantage miles, you can transfer Marriott Bonvoy points at a ratio of 3:1 with 5,000-mile bonus for transferring 60,000 points. While it’s not as quick as transferring points, you can earn AAdvantage miles through the following credit card sign-up bonuses:

Japan Airlines Mileage Bank

Another program to consider when booking American Airlines first class awards is Japan Airlines Mileage Bank — especially when you have enough miles and there’s enough availability to book a round-trip in first class. Mileage Bank uses a mileage-based award redemption scheme where a round-trip will cost less than two one-way awards. Here’s the nonstop round-trip pricing for Flagship First routes:

Domestic transcontinental (JFK/BOS-LAX/SFO): 90,000 miles round-trip

New York-JFK to London-Heathrow: 120,000 miles round-trip

Dallas/Fort Worth to London-Heathrow: 135,000 miles round-trip

New York-JFK to São Paulo: 135,000 miles round-trip

Miami to Buenos Aires/São Paulo/London: 135,000 miles round-trip

Dallas/Fort Worth to São Paulo: 145,000 miles round-trip

Los Angeles to London-Heathrow: 145,000 miles round-trip

Dallas/Fort Worth to Hong Kong: 190,000 miles round-trip

Los Angeles to Hong Kong: 190,000 miles round-trip

Unfortunately, Japan Airlines miles are harder to accumulate than other options. Mileage Bank is only a transfer partner of Marriott Bonvoy (3:1 with 5,000-mile bonus for transferring 60,000 points). Also, transfers typically take 48 hours — which makes it even less appealing when you need to jump on rarely-open award availability.

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles

A final program to consider when looking to book American Airlines first class awards is Cathay Pacific’s Asia Miles program. The catch here is that Asia Miles charges award prices based on distance flown rather than region-based, so it doesn’t have as straight-forward pricing, especially when you want to add a connection. There’s plenty of opportunities once you know how to maximize stopovers and open jaws, but here are the nonstop Flagship First routes for simplicity:

Know before you go.

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The credit card offers that appear on the website are from credit card companies from which ThePointsGuy.com receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site (including, for example, the order in which they appear). This site does not include all credit card companies or all available credit card offers. Please view our advertising policy page for more information.

Editorial Note: Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airlines or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.